You Stopped the Rain
by Hail the Wolves
Summary: Too long he's been sleeping, not responding to anything she said. What will it take to wake him up.


Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. Epsecially since I can't draw.

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Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

The little digital line rose and fell with the pulse it was attached to. Up and down, up and down. Nonstop, incessant, ceaseless. A chest inflated and deflated like a balloon. Orange hair lay disarranged over a chiseled face.

A figure sat beside the body, silent and still. Violet eyes were blank with bags under the lower lid were prominent. Black hair fell over a delicate face. Her breathing was as steady as the boy lying next to her slept on. No, not slept. Or was it? Was it sleeping when you couldn't wake up?

Rukia looked at Ichigo's face on more time. It was the same as when she looked five minutes before. And five minutes before that. And hours before that. And _days_ before that….

How long had it been since he had been in this coma? Rukia couldn't remember exactly. It had happened right after he had defeat Aizen….

_Well Kurosaki-kun… huff… It seems you and I are almost finished…_

_Heh… I guess so bastard…_

_All always rude. Shall we finish this then._

_Lets._

That one attack had killed Aizen, but had given Ichigo a worse fate. One year, six months, and four days in a coma. Didn't she just say she didn't remember? Oh well.

Ichigo had fought to save them all: his family, his friends, his world. Now he was paying for it by never waking up.

The doctors said that he could wake up at any moment; that his entire body was functioning right. That was what the human doctors said anyway.

Unohana-taichou had come to check on him a few times. It had been decided that it would be safest for Ichigo to be in the human world during this ordeal. Problem was, the humans didn't really know about his problems.

Unohana-taichou had said that he was fine physically, but it was mentally that he was having trouble with. His Hollow, the one that had let him win that stupid war, was hurting him. In that moment where he finally defeated Aizen, that damn inner Hollow took over for just an instant. But that one instant was making Ichigo fight an internal battle that he didn't seem to be winning.

Every day, Rukia sat by his bedside for at least a few hours. She would contemplate the past, think about the present, and try to figure out what would happen in the future. What would she say to him when he woke up? Would she cry? Yell at him for taking such a long break? She wasn't sure what would happen. She would just have to wait for him.

But how much longer? She missed him so much, his voice, the way his eyes shone when he pierced through her mask, that smirk only she saw, and that oh so rare smile...

Not that she would tell anyone. She wasn't completely oblivious to the rumors. Some had even asked her outright. She wasn't sure though. If she told everyone how she felt, what if he didn't return his feelings? She cringed at the thought of being rejected.

But she knew instinctively that wouldn't hurt her. He would never hurt her, nor let her get hurt. Then why was he hurting her now by staying in this damn coma? This damn fucking coma…

"Ichigo… please, please wake up…" She reached up to his head to brush the strands of orange off his seamless forehead. It really was amazing how peaceful he looked even when he was facing mental pain.

"Rukia are you in here?" Ichigo's father, Kurosaki Isshin, walked into the room surprisingly calm. His face wasn't as lively as usual, and he seemed so much tenser than a man like himself should have.

"Yeah… Just waiting like usual for him to wake up… The dumbass is making me wait longer than usual," the last words were almost none existent as she uttered them.

"Rukia-chan, can I talk to you outside?" Isshin nodded to outside the sliding glass door. Rukia looked at him puzzled, but followed none of the less.

"Kurosaki-san, why couldn't you tell me inside? It's not like anyone is going to hear."

The older man scratched the back of his head, anxious to say what was necessary. "Rukia-chan, it's about my son. We're not sure if he's winning that battle in his head. The only ones who know anything about this is Urahara-san and the Vaizards. They're coming by soon to check him out. I need you stay out of the room until then okay?"

Rukia looked up at him, confused. What was so big that they couldn't let her be there? Well, no point of arguing. Anything to make him better.

"I understand," She walked down the barren hospital hallway, in search of somewhere to sit while she waited.

The second her back had turned from Isshin, his face had fallen. A hand slid over his face, as silent tears rolled down his somber face. "Please, let him make it through…"

/~/~/

She watched silently as the Vaizards and Urahara passed by. All of them were grim, and Hiyori was even carrying a bouquet of flowers. Rukia felt a pang of guilt in her chest. The entire time she was here, she had brought nothing but her comfort to Ichigo.

She was sitting next to his door, refusing to put too much distance in between herself and Ichigo. She began to become angry as she thought about the people crowding Ichigo's room. Why had it taken them so long to come to check on him? It was over a year since the war had finished. It wasn't like they hadn't known either. They were there, as was everyone else, when Ichigo had plummeted down towards the ground after delivering the killing blow to Aizen.

She pulled distractedly at her dress that Kurosaki-san had provided her with. She kept a stock of them in the drawer that was residing in Ichigo's suite, since it wasn't really in use. Every day she would change in his bathroom, eat a very quick meal in the cafeteria, and then rush back to his room just in case something happened. But nothing ever happened. He would always just lie there, calmly, as though resting.

She tried to glance into the room, but they had closed the blinds for privacy. She sighed and grumbled again, now bored. Even though she spent most of her day just staring at him, at least he was in her sight. Now that he wasn't…. she couldn't help but be a little antsy.

She waited for another fifteen minutes. Her attitude soured even further, and when a nurse would ask her if she would like a chair, she would glare and almost snarl at them. Word had spread to every department to avoid the short little girl sitting outside the comatose patient's room.

That's when she heard it. Someone screaming, but she couldn't tell if it was one of happiness or fear.

"Ichigo, calm down! Please, just calm down!!"

Rukia's head perked up. They were calling his name! That meant he _had_ to be awake. Moving so fast that a few of the humans glanced at her, she threw the door open and pushed the blinds aside.

That's when she saw him. Ichigo was standing, for the first time in over a year and a half. He was somehow standing strong, his legs not weak from inactivity. Only to be expected from him. Her eyes traced the contours of his body, anxious to see those beautiful amber eyes stare back at her.

But it wasn't to be. She now understood that scream from earlier. His face was half-way covered with that disgusting Hollow mask, then one that had been haunting her for so long. Those soft amber orbs didn't greet hers, only those dastardly gold and black ones. Rukia shivered at his glare.

She tore her eyes away from his, looking around the room. She then saw Hiyori in the corner, clutching her arm. Rukia glanced at the stream of blood flowing from the gash in her arm. She saw the girl cringe as she shifted, attempting to stand up.

Rukia then noticed that everyone was trying to hold Ichigo back. From her it looked like. Shinji and Rose were behind him, attempting to hold his arms. Mashiro and Risa were holding his left arm, while Rabu and Kensei holding his right. Hachi stood in front of him with Urahara, hoping to intimidate the younger one.

Rukia had never felt fear when seeing Ichigo's hollow mask. But now, as she stood in front of him, with him trying to rip six people off his person and then make his way through another two, just to get to her, caused a jagged blade of fear to pierce her heart. Not for herself no; she could never fear for her own life in Ichigo's presence. She feared for him, and the fact that his hollow seemed to be taking over. He had told her about that creature residing in his mind. And now it was destroying his mind, as he slowly seemed to be losing control as he struggled even more.

So Rukia did the only thing she could think of in this current situation. She rushed forward avoiding the bigger men in front of her nakama. Before any one of them had gathered she was close to him, to his intoxicating scent, his impressive presence alone… Rukia had reached Ichigo, wrapped one hand around his waist, using the other to pull the mask away from his face. By then, Urahara and Hachi had realized she had slipped by them, and were futilely pulling her away from her, saying something about how he was dangerous, she couldn't be near him now. Thankfully, Hachi had placed a barrier around the room, preventing anyone without major reiatsu from entering.

But Ichigo could never be dangerous, at least not to her. Becoming desperate, Rukia did the last thing she could think of.

She leaned forward as far as she could, tilted her head to the side, and chastely brushed her lips against his thankfully uncovered ones.

Time stopped at that instant. Ichigo stopped thrashing wildly and became frozen. The Vaizards slack grew lose, and Urahara stopped trying to drag Rukia away from Ichigo.

All eyes were on Ichigo. His golden yet cold eyes had closed, and the visible part of face was set in hard lines.

Then, he collapsed.

Rukia screamed silently, being pulled down with him, as her arm was still around his waist. She watched the mask dissipate, his angelic face smooth out. His gorgeous eyes fluttered open, and he smirked. "Thanks Rukia," He leaned up slightly, pressing his lips against hers for the briefest of moments. "You stopped the rain."

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Okay, this took me forever to finish, but I couldn't get it out of my head. Don't worry, I'm working on Brotherhood still. But until then, to those who also read Brotherhood, Jaa nee!


End file.
